“Dear Paul,

...

In my opinion, in front of artworks people tend to trap themselves with a search for meaning that may not be so necessary. That’s why we so often hear questions such as ‘What does this mean?’, or, ‘What’s the story behind this?’. Sometimes, when I’m irritated, I have to hold myself back from saying, ‘If I can tell you with words, why would I bother making artworks?’ (Not that I’ve ever done so. Really. Hehe.) Other times, when I’m nicer, I would reply by saying, ‘Well, what do you see in it? What do you think the story is? Or, what do you think it means?’ Only when they say something back, no matter how short, would I want to continue the conversation. Of course you can call me outdated, old school, or whatever. If we’re talking about stories, which may emerge from or around an artwork, we can continue to do so infinitely. However, a story can only be relevant if it is built within a conversation, when it is reciprocal, mutual and shared, and not just a form of one-way communication. Anyway, I don’t want to dwell on this. I hope this is enough for you to understand why I was happy, open and convinced when you said that you’re making works with Kung Fu Panda (2006) as a starting point.

In your brief artist statement for the works in Kuotie-dien, you quoted Po’s father who revealed that the secret recipe for his delicious noodles is in fact nothing, ‘To make something special, you just have to believe it’s special.’ ... Hehe. So, if we want to put it in words, perhaps something like this will do: ‘The secret is you. You just have to believe in yourself.’ I cannot imagine it. If other people read your artist statement, how would they interpret it? For me, Po’s father’s remark is representative of ideas about still life as an artistic practice in general. Common objects, the stuff that make up our daily lives, arranged and frozen in a particular moment for the sake of beauty. These objects become special, unique, important, because they were given a stage, a position, a certain kind of lighting, recorded, printed and framed, and presented in front of us. Oh really? So, an artist’s work is making something special out of ordinariness? So, these objects are actually not important?

Your approach in arranging the objects is refreshing, at least to me. When I first saw these works, I tried my best to not have any added hopes and wishes since I already know your practice from before. It’s actually not so easy to do that. Hehe. But, really, I tried..., then I realized something: That these works are your way of paying respect to the universe and its beings. (Wow! Such huge claims! But what to do, since I really felt that?!) It’s true that physically, what we see are mere objects or things. Whether they be a hard disk, an earphone, a dildo, a Buddha statue, figurine toys, stones, rocks, lamps, photography equipment, vegetables, food, used coffee cups, coins or fifty-thousand cash notes. But, for me, you arranged them all with such equal spirit, intention and purpose. So that, in the works in this exhibition, these varying objects with their varying levels of importance, become equal. You respect them in their equality.

The form of a letter that I chose for a written introduction to this exhibition - I am well aware that this is an open letter that will be read by others, too - was done with the consideration that if I write for the exhibition visitors, I become no more than a storyteller. Whereas, I thought, it doesn’t make sense if the introduction text to your work is made up of my stories of your work. Because anyone seeing your work is entitled to create their own stories. So why should mine be the one printed at the front of the exhibition?...”

excerpt of the letter by Grace Samboh to Paul Kadarisman
in the occasion of his solo show "Koutie-dien" at RUBANAH-Underground Hub, Jakarta, March 2023